Menu

about

We all have an image of ourselves posed in school uniform, eating an ice cream at a birthday party, lined up for a family portrait. If not we recognise the form. These photographs provide the evidence for the construction of our personal narratives. The desire for unique moments, the significant point in the story, is a powerful desire.

But what do we do with this desire, based upon values deriving from the capture or representation of something unique, when we live in a culture built upon the ability to repeat? A culture where mass (re) production guarantees consistency, where to cut, paste and copy is only two clicks of one hand?

We sift through a flood of representational images which are portrayals of conventions rather than evidence of the content they purport to show. If we repeat the convention for long enough then it becomes tradition. If I have tradition to fall back on, then maybe I know where I stand.

Working predominantly with drawing my practice is focused on the representation of the human figure through the conventions of portraiture. How formed conventions aspire to the unique yet also promote the generic. I collect images range of sources; art historical examples, via photocopies; anonymous photographs uploaded to the Internet and found images. These fragments are spliced together, the poses, gestures, attire and composition are examined, repeated, reconstructed and reflect back upon themselves.

Collaged material acts as reference for intricate pencil drawings, the fragility of the drawn images complicating the relationship to originality whilst maintaining the nostalgic desire for the unique hand-crafted work.